12-year-old Australian uses mum’s credit card to fly to Bali

AN Australian child has had a four-day trip to Bali in Indonesia using a credit card stolen from his parents after having a fight with his mother.

The 12-year-old Sydney boy named Drew managed to board a plane, check into the All Seasons, hire and ride a scooter and drink a beer on the beach all on his own, the Australian news programme A Current Affair first reported on Monday.

Drew reportedly tricked his grandmother Linda into giving him his passport and attempted to board Garuda Indonesia and Qantas flights, but was denied access because he did not have a letter from his parents.

The budget Australian airline Jetstar, however, later allowed him onto a flight.

“They just asked for my student ID and passport to prove that I’m over 12 and that I’m in secondary school,” Drew told A Current Affair. “It was great because I wanted to go on an adventure.”

His mother Emma said that she was “shocked” and “disgusted” by his behaviour. “He just doesn’t like the word ‘no’,” she said. “And that’s what I got – a kid in Indonesia.” The family has annual holidays to Bali.

Twelve-year-old Drew isn’t the first kid to run away from his parents after a fight, but he could very well be the first who’s made it all the way to Bali. He hopped on a Jetstar flight to the holiday island after breezing through customs in Australia and Indonesia. #9ACA | FULL STORY: https://www.9now.com.au/a-current-affair/2018/extras/latest/180423/runaway-rascal/?ocid=Social-ACA

Drew packed clothes into a bag and took his razor scooter, telling his mum he was heading to school. When his separated parents suspected that he was attempting to fly overseas, they alerted the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on March 8.

Emma told A Current Affair that it was “too easy” for her son to escape to Indonesia via Perth and that there was a problem with “our system”. “We begged for weeks on end. When the first attempt to Indonesia took place, we were told his passport was going to be flagged,” she added.

Linda said that the AFP had given their assurances it “wouldn’t happen” for Drew to leave the country and described her grandson as “kind”, “generous” and having a “heart of gold”. “There’s no problem with him, he’s just too intelligent for his own self at the moment,” she said.

It is not the first time that Drew has run away from home. At just two years of age, he packed a bag and left the house before being caught at the local park.

Emma has come in for widespread criticism over her parenting online and told local radio that it had been a “terrible” week.